The earliest story I've found about an ancestor is from 1580. A French ancestor's wife was very ill. He feared she would die. There was a German army advancing, and some kind of plague was rampant. He was trying to find people who would be witnesses to her will, but everyone was afraid of getting ill. He finally found two who would sign. She survived. Women in France actually had independent property rights, necessitating a will. #genealogy

@poemblaze I looked it up and i think it was the bubonic plague that was going around! 👀 It does not sound like a pleasant thing to get either: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21590-bubonic-plague

@poemblaze And when i say "doesn't sound like a pleasant thing to get" i mean that as a "besides the whole part about DYING from it" sorta thing... 😬

@ChillySnowgirl She fell ill Jan 26, 1588.